Quick Nail Art & a Short Family Story

Sometimes, like me lately, you just don't have time to sit down and do the nail art you really want to. An easy way to get a noticeable result is to use different types of polish.

For this mani I used Julep Paula as a base. If you're a purple/blurple lover, you'll love this. It's probably one of my all-time faves. It is SO gorgeous! For the tips, I used Sinful Colors Blue Persuasion. It's very similar in color, but it's textured. Since I did the tips freehand, they were far from perfect. So, I added a stripe of silver. I was hoping it would hide my messy lines, but alas, I need more practice with my striping brush too. Hahaha! I used Sally Hansen Color Foil in Sterling Silver for the stripe.

Julep Paula & Sinful Colors Blue Persuasian

 

Added a Stripe of Silver

Sorry, I know the pics suck, but I was originally supposed to pick up my half-brother from the airport that morning. As a matter of fact, the 2nd pic was taken while sitting at a Starbucks waiting. It was my first time meeting my half-brother and the first time he & my dad have seen each other in 37 years! It was such a happy week for our family. I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season and have a blessed new year!                                                                                               xoxo ~Tabi

Bonus: Family Pic! (Blocked out the kids' faces for privacy/safety.)

New Year's Day

NotD: JulieG Tahiti Swatch & Simple Nail Art

Well hello there! I know, I know. I said in the last post that I was back, but I'm for real this time. I think. Haha. So let's just jump right in, shall we? I ordered the JulieG/Jesse's Girl Cruise Collection from Groupon. While I love the colors, I think I got a faulty batch. It's a little thick so I can't use thin coats. What I had to do was be generous and remove the excess otherwise it wouldn't apply smoothly. I have other JulieG polishes and have never had this problem. So, I don't know if it's their fault or perhaps Groupon's. Either way, I still absolutely adore the colors. Especially this first one I'm showing you.

JulieG Nails - Tahiti

JulieG Nails - Tahiti

JulieG Nails - Tahiti & Sinful Colors - Blue Persuasion

JulieG Tahiti is not only a gorgeous springy/minty green, it also has a hint of glass fleck shimmer. There are so many shades of spring/mint green out there and most of them are cream. So, the shimmer really makes this polish. I tried to show it in a few different lights and then decided to do some simple nail art too. I used Sinful Colors Blue Persuasion for a simple tape mani. It's probably one of my favorite textured polishes. I just LOVE blue-violet colors.

So, that's all for now. I'm just getting back in the swing of things, so hopefully I'll be posting more regularly soon. Thanks to all of you lovelies who have stuck with me.     XOXO ~ Tabi

NotD: Easy Nail Art

Happy Monday Afternoon! Hope everyone's week started off well. Today, I have some easy but cute nail art. I used Urban Outfitters Slime and Sinful Colors Cream Pink. It's called cream, but it has a pretty little shimmer. As for Slime, I'm pretty sure I mentioned it in a previous post, but the formula sucks. Streaky on the first coat, pulls on the second, and chips so easily. As a matter of fact, you'll see in my pictures that I have a chip on the index finger. How? Well, I painted them late Saturday night so I thought I'd wait until morning for pics in the sunlight. A simple shower (meaning no hair washing) and BOOM! Chip. Yeah. Anywho! On to the pics! ^_^

Dots and Half Moon Accent Nail

Urban Outfitters Slime & Sinful Colors Cream Pink

My Chocolate Lab

So, indirect, direct, and alternate view with a guest appearance by my dog. Haha. I really do love the color of slime. It's a shame that I dread ever using it.

I free-handed the half moon and used a dotting tool for the dots. I dipped once for each nail so the dots got slightly smaller from base to tip. And that's it! I hope you like. Have a fabulous week!

NotD: Gradient

Hi there! So, today I just have a gradient. I've been wanting to try one of these high contrast gradients. I just think they look so glam. I used OPI - Skull and Glossbones with Pomegranate Nail Lacquer - Improv Show.

Purple and Grey Gradient

I tried to show both hands in a two different views and the bottom left was the best nail overall. Haha!  This mani was far from perfect, but I love the dramatic look it created. Oh and let me just say, despite the name, Skull and Glossbones is a gorgeous taupe-y/grey. I just love it.

Are there any looks you love but haven't gotten around to trying? Are there any you'd like to see me attempt? Let me know! Thanks for reading. ^_^

Cuz I'm a Geek

I saw tons of Iron Man nails when 3 came out, but I haven't seen any Star Trek nails. Of course, I'm rarely on the computer on the weekends. I could have just missed them all. Anyway, here are mine. Simple, but unmistakably geek. Haha.

Star Trek Nail Art

 Also, sorry I haven't been blogging like usual. Not only have I been busy, but I haven't been motivated. I have so many other passions and hobbies that I've been ignoring, and I think I just need to find some balance between them all. I hope you all will stick with me. I've even considered just sticking with Facebook and Instagram instead of the blog. What do you guys think?

 Well, I'll be sure to let you know if I make that decision. Have a fabulous day. Xoxo.

Frosted Gumdrops - Frosted Tips 2 Ways

To continue my Frosted Gumdrops non-swatch posts, today I have two more to share. I decided frosted tips was a good play on the name. So, I did one over Crushed Candy and one with Blueberry Fizz as the "frost."

Remember how I couldn't get Blueberry Fizz opened? Well, my husband couldn't either. He's 6'2 and works out 4 times a week! In his defense, he also has really large hands, so gripping that little lid couldn't have been easy. How did he finally get it open? With his teeth. Yeah, so now my lid looks like this on either side. Haha.

Ok, on to the manis. The first is Crushed Candy with Sinful Colors Candy Coated. You see what I did there? LOL. Here it is.

JulieG Crushed Candy & Sinful Colors Candy Coated

JulieG Crushed Candy with Frosted Tips

Next, I decided to use Blueberry Fizz since it's blue and frosty looking. ^_^ This is over Millie, one of the new  Julep polishes I got. Sorry for the crappy pic. I was having issues with Millie. That's for another post, though.

JulieG Blueberry Fizz over Julep Millie

So, that's is for this post. Are there any ideas you'd like me to try with these polishes? Let me know. Have a fabulous weekend!

NotD: Rock Candy Plus...?

So, I know a lot of nail lovers out there took advantage of the Groupon deal for the Julie G Frosted Gumdrops Collection. That means, there are tons of swatches circulating and you don't really need another, right? So, what I'm going to try to do is find out what other nail art techniques will work with these. But I'm going to give you a swatch first anyway. Haha.

JulieG Rock Candy

Since they're textured, I'm pretty sure it will be nearly impossible to effectively stamp over it. So, my first attempt was saran wrap. I know it's not going to get the same effect, but I wanted to see what it would look like. I used black so it's easy to see, but I think I would have liked it much more with a different color. All the texture is still there, though. Anyway, here it is.

Saran Wrap Nail Art over Textured Polish

Sorry this is smaller. The other one was taken with my camera at home. I don't know why my phone pics are always so small. But you can click and enlarge it a little. So, what do you think? I think I'm going try sponging next. Any other suggestions?

As always, thanks for reading. Have a wonderful weekend!